And the muse is back. I'm feeling much better today, so I typed up another chapter. Well, I don't have much to say. Except that I've started to work on a LEGO helicarrier in Lego Digital Designer (Yeah, I'm a Lego freak). Also, I have discovered that the jet used in the movie to shoot the hulk in the helicarrier actually exists. I thought that, with the rotating… engine… er… thruster- I can't remember the word right now for some reason- anyway, with the rotating thingy (What? It looked futuristic), it had been computer generated, but turns out it's not – it's an F-35B(the STOVL version of the main plane). Actually, the plane itself was CGI, because the Air Force wouldn't let the crew use actual planes for a spy agency that they called a 'a covert, "extra-governmental" organization whose loyalties are unclear', as written on Wikipedia. I found out about the plane through one of Fenix84's stories, but at first thought that it had been fabricated. Well, anyway, thank you, Fenix84. Okay, enough author blabber. Enjoy.

Chapter 7: Of Hacking and Traps

"Argh! How the hell do you do this?" Tony exclaimed as he hit his head yet again on the low vent roof.

"Sshhh!" Natasha berated, "Keep quiet. We're nearly on top of them. Look! There's the opening!" They quickly and quietly crawled over to the grill. Several advanced looking computers had been placed in rows along the length of the entire room. An agent or two was sitting at each of them – Several complex graphs and lines of text flitted across the screen of all the computers. Fury was on a raised platform at one end of the room, arguing with a scientist about a few papers. Steve's voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

"Okay, away team, we're in position. Distraction activation in 3…" They hastily loosened the grill's rubber holder, "2…" They silently removed the grill and crouched in anticipation, "1. Push it." A model plane suddenly came whooshing in through the open door, automated catapults whirring as they fired six eggs in quick succession at random people. A little valve on the plane's bottom opened, dispersing a green, stinky gas among the agents. Fury quickly yelled at an agent, but, after he pressed a few keys on his keyboard, he looked up and shook his head. Fury just pinched the bridge of his nose and said something uncomplimentary about JARVIS. He then barked an order to the agents and scientists, who immediately unplugged some devices from the computers and left, coughing, followed by Fury, who shut the doors behind him.

Agents came pouring out of the double doors, coughing, retching and sputtering. Thor quickly drew his head back into the relative safety of the ventilation shaft. The two of them speedily pulled the grill shut, but not fast enough. Fury spotted Thor's leg as it disappeared, and this time, he didn't go running towards the playroom. He first calmly dismissed all the agents to another lab, and then went calmly over to an elevator. It didn't work. He promptly turned, and went for the stairs. He wouldn't let anger cloud his mind. He would not. He was just going to make those kids pay.

"You're clear."

"Thanks. We'll take it from here. Bruce, could you turn on the filtration system?"

"Done."

SHIELD had managed to access, to some degree, JARVIS's servers. He could still run the house and such, but could not leak information on SHIELD to the kids. They opened the grill, Clint stuck the sticky rope to the Shaft's roof, and they all slid down, landing just as the last vestiges of the gas disappeared into the filtration system's vacuum grills.

Okay, a left here, then a right a meter ahead. Ah, here was the grill 'landmark'. They were close now. "Wait." Steve gestured for Thor to stop. Fury was walking right underneath their shaft. "Bruce, he's coming. Are the defenses in good shape?"

"Yeah, they are."

"Good. We'll be there a few seconds before him. Keep them ready."

"Okay, Clint, you take the door. Natasha, you take the window over there." Tony gestured to the lone window in the room that looked out onto the hallway. "This computer here looks like it has the mainm servers in this room. Let's just hope it has the toys' location too."

They quickly moved to their designated posts. Tony sat himself down on the chair in front of the computer, and pressed a button on it, cranking it up to a more comfortable height. He moved his fingers rapidly over the keyboard, occasionally using the mouse or the touch screen. The other two stood at their posts, eyes roving and ears alert.

"Damn it!" Tony suddenly exclaimed.

"What?"

"They're not here."

"What?"

"Lower your voice, Clint. We'll have to go back now. Tony, you think you can hack into the computers from the playroom?"

"No. The computer we were given isn't powerful enough. The main server is somewhere in the building. They wouldn't have left it all in the helicarrier. It's always imperative to have at least some information near the lab itself. If I had to guess, I'd say Fury is probably carrying it around in his pocket. He must be worried that we'd try to pull off a stunt like this."

"Well that's just great." Clint groaned. "How are we supposed to access a hard disk in Fury's pocket?"

Then, Tony suddenly had a brainwave, "Hey! The defenses!"

"What about them?" Natasha perked up at what looked like an idea.

"Well, if we modified the trap a bit to pull off his coat…"

"Come off it!" Clint said, "There's only the slimmest chance that he's even got it in-"

"But it's still a chance" Bruce's voice suddenly came through their comms.

"Yeah!" Tony agreed excitedly, "Steve, how far are you from Furry?"

They had abandoned the 'Mr'.

"We're right on top of him."

"Stall him."

"Done."

Steve reached into his pocket and extracted two eggs while Thor crawled as quickly as he dared while maintaining total silence towards the next shaft opening.

"Okay, Friend Steve, I am in position."

"Good."

Steve crawled back down the vent towards another opening. Both were luckily on hinges. Fury was just rounding the corner, about three meters away. Wait for it…NOW! He hurled an egg at Fury, who saw it a split second too late to dodge. He instead raised an arm, trying to defend his face as best he could. The egg hit the back of his forearm with a light crunch as the shell broke, sending it's contents everywhere, mostly over the leather of Fury's trench coat and the surrounding walls. He lowered his arm just a little to survey the scene for the assailant – whose second egg slipped right off the top of Fury's arm and hit his forehead with another satisfying report. Fury cursed and ran for the other end of the hallway. Right when he was underneath Thor's opening, a white shower fell onto him, coating his (sticky) egg-covered person with a healthy dose of flour. He then reached straight for the safety of an… umbrella which he deployed with the most satisfied smirk a man ever had when employing defense of a nature such as this. He promptly stiffly turned around, maintaining his injured dignity all the way to a bathroom door… and then charging inside it, colorful obscenities from his mouth polluting the surrounding atmosphere, which looked oddly like the site of a kitchen food fight.

"Shall I send them, master?"

"No. Wait a few days. We must observe them a while longer for them to be perfect."

"Yes, master."

"We've secured a few minutes."

"Good."

Tony and company were almost at the playroom; they could see Steve and Thor up ahead.

"Bruce, how's it coming?"

"I'm about half done."

"We'll be there soon, buddy. Keep at it."

They soon reached the playroom and jumped down into it, immediately rushing to help Bruce in pushing back a tall post that was holding up one corner of a net.

"Okay" Bruce started, "I think we'll manage to pull off Furry's coat with this hook over here, but we'll need some mechanism to get his arms out of his sleeves. I was thinking of using these hooks over here with these clips." He help up two heavy-duty metal clips.

"Yeah" Tony agreed, "Then he'll land up in that net and we all know what happens then."

They all gave creepily evil nods. Jan suddenly burst in, with a cappuccino in one hand, "Fury's coming down this way, and boy does he look mad."

"Quick!"

They speedily assembled the rest of the trap while Jan kept a look out.

"He's coming round the corner!" Jan really wished that Hank was here to see the machine. He had been called away to a meeting in the Baxter building. He would be arriving the next day, with the other Hank, Richard, Pepper and Jane, who had called the previous day to let them know that Darcy had insisted on tagging along. The other scientists had stayed on the helicarrier for a few extra days, examining a few milligrams of vibranium to reacquaint themselves with the substance. At that moment, Fury walked in.

And a cliffhanger.

Fun Fact – The F-35 generally has more sophisticated technology in comparison to the F-22. It is smaller, slower, and cannot go as high, but otherwise is more 'flexible'. It is considered by some that an F-22 with some F-35 like upgrades would be the ideal fighter jet. Wikipedia still maintains that the F-22 is the best bird out there, but I think this info might be outdated. Might. I myself will probably use hybrids of the two, plus the originals for my stories.

Reviews encourage me! Please, review, favorite or follow. Please?